BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s parliament passed a provincial elections law on Wednesday after months of arguing between Arabs and Kurds, and called for the vote to be held before January 31 next year, legislators said.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – A suspected U.S. pilotless drone has crashed in the northwestern Pakistani region of South Waziristan after a spate of missile attacks by unmanned U.S. aircraft in Pakistan strained ties between the allies.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is set to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday in what is expected to be a tense encounter following Moscow’s incursion into Georgia last month.